 |
 Gradi in 2010 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dario Gradi | ||
| Date of birth | 8 July 1941 | ||
| Place of birth | Milan, Italy | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1969–1970 | Sutton United | ||
| 1971 | Tooting & Mitcham United | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| 1976–1977 | Sutton United | ||
| 1978–1981 | Wimbledon | ||
| 1981 | Crystal Palace | ||
| 1983–2007 | Crewe Alexandra | ||
| 2008 | Crewe Alexandra (caretaker) | ||
| 2009–2011 | Crewe Alexandra | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Dario Gradi (born 8 July 1941) is an Italian-English former football player, coach and manager. He was associated for more than 36 years with Crewe Alexandra, where he was variously manager, director of football and director of the Academy, until October 2019.
Gradi played as an amateur for clubs in the London area (and won an England amateur cap); he then took on various coaching roles in the region. His first major managerial success was achieved with Wimbledon after which he briefly managed Crystal Palace in 1981.
Gradi had a 24-year first spell as manager of Crewe between 1983 and 2007. He stepped down from his managerial role in 2007, handing first-team responsibilities to Steve Holland, and became technical director. At that time, Gradi was the longest-serving manager of an English football league club.[1] After two further spells as Crewe manager, he finally stepped down in November 2011 to focus on the club's youth system,[2] after managing Crewe in 1,359 first team games.
In late 2016, as the United Kingdom football sexual abuse scandal expanded, Gradi's roles at Crewe at the time of alleged offences in the 1980s and at Chelsea in the early 1970s were the subject of media scrutiny. The Chelsea allegations led to Gradi being suspended by The Football Association in November 2016. Gradi denied any wrongdoing and in February 2017 was planning an appeal against his FA suspension. However, he was heavily criticised by Chelsea's inquiry report, published in August 2019, and in the FA's Sheldon Report, published in March 2021 – when the FA said Gradi (who had retired from all football roles in October 2019) was "effectively banned for life" from football "for safeguarding reasons". While accepting he had been suspended indefinitely from certain activities, Gradi said he had not been banned. Awarded an MBE for services to football in 1998,[3] Gradi was stripped of the award in 2023 for failing to protect children from sexual abuse.[4][5]
- ^ Footballers are greedy says Gradi, BBC Sport, 19 June 2008. Retrieved on 20 June 2008.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
stepswas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Dario Gradi MBE Archived 17 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine, League Managers Association. Retrieved: 17 April 2015.
- ^ Taylor, Daniel (21 August 2023). "Former Crewe Alexandra manager Dario Gradi stripped of MBE". The Athletic. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
- ^ MacInnes, Paul (21 August 2023). "Dario Gradi to lose MBE after failing to protect children from sexual abuse". Guardian. Retrieved 21 August 2023.